Bolbitis heteroclita

Went to my LFS the other day to see if they had any decent plants, well suffice to say NO! 99% of the plants had tons of dead leaves/algae on them! So I took a look at petsmart, I've purchased an anubias from them in the past and it did well.

My girlfriends autistic daughter had started to throw stuff in the middle of the store (she's always a fun one lol.) so I grabbed 2 java ferns off the self and chased after her. Turns out one wasn't a java fern, it's a Bolbitis heteroclita. I've heard mixed reviews on these, can anyone give me their experience with these plants? Should I keep it or return it for another java fern or anubias? I like the way it looks but if it's a difficult plant I'd just as soon return it.

On a side note though, the one java fern I bought had a yellow leaf with a plantlet hanging on it. Yay 2 for 1! lol I'm sure this is fairly common with petsmart ferns but it made me happy lol.

Went to my LFS the other day to see if they had any decent plants, well suffice to say NO! 99% of the plants had tons of dead leaves/algae on them! So I took a look at petsmart, I've purchased an anubias from them in the past and it did well.

My girlfriends autistic daughter had started to throw stuff in the middle of the store (she's always a fun one lol.) so I grabbed 2 java ferns off the self and chased after her. Turns out one wasn't a java fern, it's a Bolbitis heteroclita. I've heard mixed reviews on these, can anyone give me their experience with these plants? Should I keep it or return it for another java fern or anubias? I like the way it looks but if it's a difficult plant I'd just as soon return it.

On a side note though, the one java fern I bought had a yellow leaf with a plantlet hanging on it. Yay 2 for 1! lol I'm sure this is fairly common with petsmart ferns but it made me happy lol.

Hi Sake,

Actually there seem to be at least two species of Bolbitis heteroclita.

I grow B. heteroclita 'Difformis' and have for a little over a year. For the first eight months the rhizomes just sat there attached to the stone. The original leaves became brownish, possibly with diatoms but unlikely since diatoms were not anywhere else in the tank and I keep several Otocinclus in there at all times; I think I got 3 new leaves over that eight month period. Then about 4 months ago I noticed the new leaves sprouting along original rhizome and new rhizome growth with new leaves. It was doing well enough last month that I was able to take a small portion for our club auction.

The Bolbitis is in my 45 gallon tall (24" deep) with CO2, EI dosing, and a 1X96 watt AH Supply Power Compact kit. There are taller plants above the Bolbitis (Nymphoides sp 'Taiwan') so the plants do not get the full intensity of the lamp.

Current tank conditions are: PH = 6.6; dKH = 3.0; dGH = 9.0

Here are a pictures; please note the length of the leaves. My Bolbitis heudelotii (std type Bolbitis) grew leaves almost 20" long in this same tank.

I have grown B heteroclita for a while know an it is a prolific grower, just not submersed. It is a marginal plant and not really even a reophyte like a lot of other aquatic ferns are. It will handle being submersed for short periods but not for long periods. In high humidity terrariums or emersed setups it grows like crazy which is probably why Petco sells it in the tubes (for those that didn't know very few aquarium plants seen at pet stores are grown submersed most are emersed grown).

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